The sport of boxing admittedly doesn’t
hold the nation’s spotlight like it once did, but, even so, it seems
this city hasn’t fully embraced the fact that one of its own might be on
his way to being the best fighter on the planet.

Ruling against former Bengals players illustrates the next step in NFL concussion saga

As America spends the next two weeks
readying for its largest annual sporting event, the spectacle, hype and
excitement of the Super Bowl will undoubtedly overshadow the toll our
enjoyment takes on the players on the field.

As he sat at a podium in Mason,
Andy Murray wasn’t quite sure where his gold medal was. Murray, a week
removed from winning the Olympic gold medal for singles in men’s tennis,
was in Cincinnati while his prize was far away.

Andy Dalton jokes that he can now hold
his head up and boss around the mere rookies that invaded the Bengals’
locker room this past week for a rookie minicamp. He, of course, is
joking. It’s not his style to boss anyone around — more likely he’s
showing his new teammates the ropes.

With Opening Day fast approaching, you now have 225 million reasons to go watch the Reds this year. Bob Castellini opened up the checkbook and Walt Jocketty busted out his best persuasive vocabulary and Joey Votto accepted; to the tune of a 10-year, $225 million contract extension — the fourth largest in major league history. Reds ownership — unlike our dear friend, Mike Brown — has embraced the recent successes of their young nucleus of talented players and has spared no expense to keep the "Little Big Red Machine" well-oiled. Votto joins fellow all-star Jay Bruce, who signed a six-year, $51 million deal after the 2010 season. It’s nice to see a professional sports owner in Cincinnati who actually loves the sport and is in it for the right reasons.The Reds will have plenty of offensive talent this year, something that really has not been a problem over the past couple of seasons. Any lingering doubt has to relate to the recent injuries that have plagued the bullpen. Ryan Madson is out for the year after Tommy John surgery while Nick Masset will start the season on the DL with shoulder cuff inflammation. This means that Aroldis Chapman will start in the bullpen even though most Reds fans — and manager, Dusty Baker — know his services would be better used as a starter. Sean Marshall will step in to the closer role until the Reds have more depth in the bullpen; he isn’t a bad option and has consistently kept a low ERA in a relief role.One thing hasn’t changed, the Reds still play in Great American Ballpark and they have an abundance of young, strong bats in the lineup. Between Votto, Bruce, Todd Frazier and Chris Heisey, expect the Reds to be amongst the league-leaders in home runs. Drew Stubbs will hit some too, but if he could take a little constructive criticism to heart: Please, learn to bunt. This will be a key in the Reds venture for success this year.If Stubbs can get on base, he is going to steal — there are very few players in the majors that have his kind of speed. If the bats behind Stubbs perform up to expectations, the Reds will score more than enough runs to support the pitching staff. And the single most important key to success this year is battling through injuries; if the young guys can step in and compete there is no reason the Reds won’t win the division — after all, we do have the best first baseman, if not player, in the National League.The Reds will open their season against the Miami Marlins at 4:05 p.m. on Thursday following the Findlay Market Opening Day Parade. For more celebration of Opening Day, check out C. Trent Rosecrans' column from this week's CityBeat here.

City, Duke Energy spar over streetcar construction technicality

If you listen to many native
Cincinnatians, they will tell you their hometown is different from other
cities. Special. Unique even. What works everywhere else doesn’t always
work in the Queen City, and vice-versa. Whether the provincial attitude is due to
a sense of pride or a neurotic inferiority complex, its accuracy
ultimately is a matter of personal opinion.

We at CityBeat try hard to
maintain high journalistic standards, as evidenced by last week’s
internal editing debate over whether a freelancer who used the word
“shit” was literally referencing “feces” or “stuff” (turns out it was
poo).